Privacy Guides
In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.
This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.
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Additional Resources:
- EFF: Surveillance Self-Defense
- Consumer Reports Security Planner
- Jonah Aragon (YouTube)
- r/Privacy
- Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List
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TL;DR "buy our VPN"
TL;DR: Don't buy Mesh WiFi, especially if offered at a low price/subscription by your ISP. Use old-fashioned routers and access points.
If you already have or really need Mesh WiFi, consider installing a VPN client on every single device that supports it. A VPN config on your router will not protect your data from the spying WiFi Mesh Pods.
I get why ISP provided routers and some brands of mesh router would collect and sell data but what is it about "mesh" that is particularly bad here? I have a cheap TP Link router that is apparently mesh compatible but it seems like a traditional router in all the other way. Should I be concerned?
Obviously, I can't tell you about the privacy implications of every internet routing device on the planet.
I was just trying to provide a more complete and longer TL;DR than the one I was responding to.
Sounds like you know what you are doing as well as anyone could, you don't need my TLDR
You state that mesh is much worse for privacy than traditional access points but refuse to elaborate
And got absolutely showered in upvotes. This community is trash.
Lol it's similar to like r/techsupport on Reddit where every reaponse is "you must have malware" when the OP clearly doesn't. People in these communities have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. They just parrot misinformation.
I'll elaborate for him/her: mesh devices sold by untrusted companies with a profit model will almost surely be collecting your data.
The problem is not "mesh", it is the companies using a new, cool, buzzword to sell their spyware that is the problem.
They are basically enhanced repeaters that don't require a seperate network access point.
If you get a device that is primarily marketed as basic hardware, like the Asus router, you are more likely to avoid the collection. Bonus points if you can flash FOSS software to it, also like Asus, so yiu know it is clean. Regardless, use a VPN for external communications.
My home is small enough that mesh is unnecessary, but I'd buy another Asus device for mesh if it were necessary.
Thanks for this: so sick of seeing “mesh” WiFi everywhere, what a load of trash. Just set up access points with roaming capability, actually use the correct broadcast power (instead of trying to blast it off to space), etc. I’ll never understand why people want their backhaul going over WiFi; yikes.
😅
That... What you describe is a mesh wifi. APs plus roaming. That's a meshed network.
No, mesh networks’ APs use WiFi to connect to each other so that eventually client traffic reaches one that can finally route to the wired network. Client traffic doesn’t go through one AP to immediately reach the wired network.
I’m talking about a traditional network where everything is wired together using Ethernet (probably to a switch) so that client traffic on the AP immediately reaches the wired network from that AP without that AP then relying on another one to reach the wired network.
This arrangement is still common today on business networks and was so before the term “mesh” became popular in consumer routers.
I don’t “want” my backhaul going over WiFi but I’m in a house where it is quite challenging to run Ethernet cable. It’s on the list to get to but it’s a big project. In the meantime I have a functioning network. People have different situations that call for different tools.
To me it seems more nuanced.
First, a VPN won't solve much because this garbage will still be able to log connection periods (when you are home), signal strengths changing over time, (where are you in your home), and traffic bursts (when are you doing something on your phone or other devices). A VPN will just help a very little bit, by the devices having less visibility into what sites you visit. But this "solution" is like if people would have forced cameras into your house, and from that on you would only be going around while holding a towel in their line of sight to "disguise" you.
Second, this is not about mesh WiFi, as I understand. Install OpenWRT, and the mesh function of that won't do any of this.
The problem is with new (but probably preexisting too) router brands who's sole purpose is making all the unknowing customers into a product, but stealing their private life and giving it away for money (or anything else).
The problem is basically that a facebook-like company has got deep insight into your network, which you can't avoid using, especially if your ISP forced you to use these garbage.
Well said... Two weeks before the equivalent i posted moments ago.
Just buy old Ruckus units and run the mesh on their Unleashed firmware. Still worse than wired backhaul, but better than running a VPN entirely internal to your own network.
There are a number of other options listed, but that is one of them.
A VPN wouldn't even help there. The spies are not in front of your door, but directly in your house.